He has won more votes than most politicians and now Paddy Doherty, the former bare-knuckle fighter who was the surprise winner of Celebrity Big Brother, has urged people to support the families facing eviction from Dale Farm in Essex.

Doherty, 52, who lives on a caravan park in Manchester, said he had great sympathy for 450 residents of Dale Farm whose "lives are getting ruined" by their forced removal from a former scrapyard on greenbelt land close to Basildon.

Vulnerable residents from Dale Farm will be offered accommodation by the council in hostels and flats but the residents want to stay on traditional pitches in caravans so they can be with their extended families. The Travellers, most of whom were born in Essex, have said they are terrified of being victimised by their neighbours if they move into social housing.

"If you take a fish out of water it will drown straightaway. Our population will drown like that," said Doherty, speaking to an activist at Dale Farm. "I'd love it if people of all nationalities get together and show their support for the people getting evicted when they shouldn't be getting evicted."

Doherty, who starred in My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, the Channel 4 reality show criticised by many Travellers for its unflattering portrayal of their communities, said his community was discriminated against in the planning system and by councils and government.

More than 90% of applications for planning permission by Travellers are initially refused compared to less than 20% for the population in general.

"We're not even treated as second-class citizens, never mind first-class. We're treated as nothing," said Doherty. "And we're human beings, just as human as you."

Doherty said he would like to visit the site if he could and the impending eviction, which could cost up to £18m, was "all I was on about" when he attended a TV awards ceremony recently.

He called for the Dale Farm Travellers to be given "a break" and be allowed to stay on the site for a year so they could clear it up themselves.

In a letter to David Cameron, communities secretary Eric Pickles and Basildon council, Andrew George – the Liberal Democrat MP and chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers – called for a suspension of the planned eviction and the negotiation of a solution. The group of MPs and peers said appointing a cross-party group of experts to identify alternative sites for the Travellers before evicting them would save public money and would be more humane.

But in an open letter to the residents of Dale Farm, Tony Ball, the leader of Basildon council, said "the time for talking is now almost at an end" and appealed to the Travellers to leave the site "in a peaceful and orderly fashion". He urged residents to "think about the motives and actions of the supporters who claim to have your interests at heart".

Around 50 activists are currently living in Camp Constant on the Dale Farm site, pledging to use direct action to block the bailiffs, who will enter the site on Monday.

"Any unlawful behaviour or violence from them against either the police or the council will be hugely damaging," warned Ball. "If they really care about you they will make their protest in a peaceful manner and then help you to move from the site."

Some residents have already moved mobile homes and caravans off the site but other families say their elderly relatives are too ill to be moved.

The prospect of last-minute legal manoeuvres to stop the eviction appeared to be receding last night. Whilst a planning consultant working for residents believes that the council's enforcement notices do not apply to all the chalets and pitches on the site, the council said it was certain it could legally remove all structures, including large chalets and roads.